Feed control installations for herds of animals

ABSTRACT

A feed control installation for a herd of animals, including a feed location, a series of feed indicator elements such as punched cards, each bearing an identity symbol associating it with a specific animal and each carrying feed information representative of a desired quantity of feed for that animal, a card reader or other feed indicator element reader connected through a control means to a feed supply unit to cause the feed supply unit to supply the feed quantity indicated by the feed indicator element presented to the reader.

United States Patent 1191 Smith 11] 3,750,626 1 Aug, 7, 1973 1 FEED CONTROL INSTALLATIONS FOR HERDS or ANIMALS [75] Inventor: Terence Princep Smith, Dudley,

England [73] Assignee: Teledictor Limited, Tipton,

Staffordshire, England [22] Filed: Nov. 5, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 87,285

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 12, 1969 Great Britain 55,274/69 Feb. 26, 1970 Great Britain 9,337/70 [52] US. Cl. 119/51 R, 222/2, 235/92 CA [51] Int. Cl. A0111 5/02, G06f 13/00 [58] Field of Search 235/61] B, 61.11 R, 235/61.11D, 92 CA, 61.12 R; 194/4 R;

119/51 R, 51.11; 250/233; 222/2; 343/65 SS [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,557,758 l/197l Lack 119/51 R 3,443,675 5/1969 Yamamoto et al. 235161.11 D

3,026,029 3/1962 Daniels 235 112 R 3,604,903 9 1971 Hill 235 92 PE 2,923,438 2/1960 Logan et a1. 222 2 3,203,591 8/1965 Daulton et al..... 222/2 1,880,105 9 1932 Reifel 250 233 3,157,157 [1964 Clay etal.... 119 51.11 3,541,995 11 1970 Fathauer.... 119 51 R 3,557,757 1 1971 Brooks 119/51 R 3,521,280 7/1970 Janco et al. 34316.5 ss

Primary Examiner-Maynard R. Wilbur Assistant Examiner-Thomas J. Sloyan Attorney-Kenway, .Ienney and Hildreth [57] ABSTRACT 2 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures 1""-""" FEED LOCATION i CARD READER PATENIEU AUG 7 i975 SHEET 1 or 4 FIG.

FEED LOCATION CARD READER MOTOR $26 25 FIG. 2

rll l AMPLIFIER FIG. 3

COW O N PATENTED 3.750.626

SHEET 2 OF 4 COW N26 COW N 26 l O C 8 O B C:

L C STORE m1 m1 ml m1 FCI C2 C3 Z 1 3 1 4 STOP FEEDER PC 7 PULSE COUNTER FEEDER Fig F2% F3 F4 MEMORY PHOTO CELLS FIG 7 CARD CCJJ:

GENERATOR STARTER s 57%.,- 7742x1442 C i PATENIEUMIB H915 3,750,626

sum u 0F 4 M MEMORY h VRESET COMPAR- PULSE ATOR COUNTER RESET A LOCK A PI P2 P4 P8 PT PHOTO CELLS ySTOP DEEAY GEP'TILEJRLZEOR M START PG FIG. 8

PEED UNIT F FEED CONTROL INSTALLATIONS FOR IIERDS OF ANIMALS BACKGROUND It is often desired that various animals from a herd should be given different quantities of feed or in particular that different cows in a herd should be given different quantities of protein concentrate dependent on the milk yield of the particular cow. With cows the reason for this is that cows producing a large milk yield benefit from substantial quantities of protein concentrate whereas other cows producing a smaller milk yield require a smaller quantity of protein concentrate and gain no further advantage from a large quantity of protein concentrate. As protein concentate is costly, it is worthwhile to endeavour to supply no more to any particular cow than will be beneficial to that cow. Electronic cow identification and feed control installations have previously been proposed but the capital expenditure on such an installation cannot be warranted in the case of a small herd of perhaps about one hundred cows.

Thus there is a requirement for a simple but effective feed control installation which could be used economically with small herds of cows.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION A primary object of the invention is to provide an improved feed control installation for herds of animals.

A further object of the invention is to provide a low cost semi-automatic feed control installation suitable for relatively small herds of animals, for example about one hundred.

Other objects and advantages of the invention are in part obvious and in part disclosed hereinafter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention there is provided a feed control installation for a herd of animals including a feed location, a series of feed indicatorelements each bearing an identity symbol associating it with a specific animal and each carrying feed information representative of a desired quantity of feed for that animal, a feed indicator element reader connected to a feed supply unit to cause the feed supply unit to supply the feed quantity indicated by a feed element indicator presented to the reader.

Each feed indicator element may carry a permanent identity symbol associating it with a specific animal and may incorporate means for adjusting the feed information. Alternatively there may be several indicator elements carrying permanently the identity symbol for each animal but carrying different feed information. The feed quantity for each cow is in this case controlled by selection of a suitable feed indicator element for that cow. The other feed indicator elements for that cow are not available for use. In this way the feed quantity of a particular animal can be varied in accordance with requirements. For example, the quantity of protein concentrate for a cow can be varied in accordance with the milk yield of the cow over the lactation period of the cow.

In a typical installation there may be between about six and a dozen feed locations and associated feed indicator element readers for a herd of about a hundred cows. The cows are allowed into the shed or other feed location enclosure in batches so that one cow occupies each feed location. As the cows take up their positions in the appropriate feed locations the feed indicator elements corresponding to the cows concerned are presented to the appropriate readers and the cows are automatically supplied with the appropriate quantity of feed. The feed locations are also milking locations in the case of cows and milking takes place while the cow is in its feed location. The individual milk yields of the individual cows may be recorded and this information can be used to up-date the feed information representation of the cow in question when variations in milk yield are recorded.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings forming part hereof FIG. 1 is adiagrammatic representation of a complete feed control installation;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic side elevation partly in section of a feed indicator element reader with a feed indicator element in position;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the reader of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic front view of a feed indicator element;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a second form of feed indicator element reader with one element to be read;

FIG. 6 shows two corresponding feed indicator elements with differing feed indications;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an installation according to the invention; and

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a modification of the arrangement of FIG. 7 for use in the type of installation known as a Carousel feeding and milking installation.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The complete installation in its simplest form has a single feed location as indicated in FIG. I. This single feed location or alternatively each feed location if there is more than one feed location is equipped with a feed supply unit 12 which is capable of discharging a measured quantity of feed to a manger 13 for consumption by the cow concerned. Feed supply units of this nature which supply a constant measured quantity of feed in response to an electrical impulse are in themselves known and for this reason the feed supply unit is not described in detail. The single feed supply unit 12, or each feed supply unit as the case may be, is controlled by a feed indicator element reader 14 through an electrical connection 15. The reader 14 is such that it pro duces a series of impulses along the connection 15 when a feed indicator element 16 is presented to the reader. The number of impulses dpends on the feed information represented on the feed indicator element and thus this information controls the quantity of feed supplied to the manger 13. One suitable form of feed indicator element and associated reader will now be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show that the reader incorporates a series of fifteen photo cells 21 arranged in a circular arc. The supply of light to these photo cells is controlled by a feed indicator element 22 and a rotary disc 23. The disc 23 is rotatable by means of an electric motor 24 and the disc incorporates a single aperture 25 which on rotation of the disc causes a light beam from lamp 26 to scan each of the photo cells in turn.

The effect of the feed indicator element 22 interposed between the disc 23 and the photo cells 21 is to interrupt the light beam from the lamp 26 and aperture 25.

FIG. 4 shows the appropriate particulars of a feed indicator element 22. The feed indicator element is in the form of a rectangular plate which carries an identity symbol such as for example a number or a name. In the example shown in FIG. 4 the identity symbol is the number 88 which is painted or otherwise inscribed on an identity panel 27. The feed indicator element also carries a series of circular apertures 28 and these are arranged in a semi-circular arc to correspond with the positions of the photo-cells 21 when the feed indicator element is inserted into the reader. The feed indicator element also carries a rotatable semi-circular blanking plate 29 which may be positioned as shown where it blanks off none of the apertures 28 or alternatively may be rotated to a position where it blanks off some or all of the apertures 28.

Thus when the disc 23 is rotated when a feed indicator element 22 is positioned in the reader the light beam reaches a number of photo cells corresponding to the number of apertures 28 which have been left open by the blanking plate 29. The photo cells are spaced apart sufficiently for the light beam to take up a position between two photo cells in which none of the photo cells are illuminated and the photo cells are also all connected in series; the result of this is that the output signal from the photo cells is in the form ofa series of pulses which occur as each photo cell is illuminated. These pulses are fed to an amplifier 31 and the output 32 of the amplifier forms the electrical connection 15 (see FIG. I) from the reader 14 to the feed supply unit 12. In a typical installation the feed supply unit 12 may be arranged to supply one pound of protein feed concentrate for each pulse applied to it and thus by adjustment of the position of the blanking plate 29 with respect to the apertures 28 the total feed supply for any particular cow can be adjusted in units of one pound from zero to fifteen pounds.

It is necessary with this embodiment of reader to ensure that the disc 23 rotates only once while one particular feed indicator element is being read. This is achieved by the provision of an initiation switch 30 which switches on the motor only when a feed indicator element is inserted and operates the initiation switch; the motor 24 is also controlled by a commutation device coupled to its shaft such that on operation of the initiation switch 30 the supply to the motor is automatically switched off after one complete rotation of the motor. If the apertures 28 are arranged asymmetrically as shown it is also necessary to provide means whereby the feed indicator element can be inserted in position in the reader only the correct way round. Alternatively if the apertures 28 and photo cells 21 are arranged symmetrically on either side of the feed indicator elements the reader could be made to operate correctly irrespective of which side of the feed indicator element faces towards the photo cells.

The blanking plate 29 should be capable of being located securely in any desired rotational position and any convenient locking means may be provided for this purpose.

In practice a series of feed indicator elements corresponding to the number of cows in the herd are hung up from a board in a position convenient to the feed location or feed locations. As a cow enters a feed location it is identified by an operator, for example by means of a numbered tag attached to the animal and the appropriate feed indicator element corresponding to that animal is then removed from the board and placed into the reader corresponding to the feed location in which the animal takes up position. The appro priate quantity of feed is then automatically supplied to the animal.

At convenient intervals the information concerning the appropriate quantity of feed for each animal is reviewed and ifit is found that a correction is required in the feed quantity for any animal then an appropriate adjustment is made on the feed indicator element.

An advantage of the installation described above, is that only a series of simple identification operations are required by the operator and then once the simple procedure is followed each animal automatically obtains the appropriate quantity of feed.

Another embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7.

Each feed indicator element is in the form of a card which may have up to four operative holes punched in it in four specific locations .on the card. The presence or absence of a hole in a particular location is indicative of the presence or absence of a requirement for a specifiednumber of feed: units on a binary scale. In order to render the card symmetrical so that it can be read correctly irrespective of the way in which it is fed to the reader, all of the holes are on the vertical centre line of the card and all except the centre hole are duplicated towards both ends of the card. Thus, a hole at location 1 in FIG. 6 is indicative ofa requirement for one unit of feed and similarly holes at each of locations 2, 4 and 8 are indicative of a requirement for two, four or eight units respectively. The various feed unit requirements indicated, in machine-readable fashion, by the presence or absence of each hole should be added to give the total feed requirement. Thus, the card shown at the left of FIG. 6, which has four operative holes, indicates a requirement for l 2 4 8 i5 feed units for cow 26. Similarly, the card at the right of FIG. 6 indicates a requirement for 0 2 4 0 6 units for cow 26. Again, each card is provided with a visually recognizable, alphanumeric identity symbol designating the respective animal.

Although it would be possible to modify a particular card by punching a new hole or blanking off an old hole to vary the feed requirement, it is more convenient to have a series of 15 cards for each cow, each with a different feed indication, and for the herdsman to be issued with one appropriate card for each cow. Thus, if the feed requirement of an individual cow alters, all that is necessary is to substitute a different card for the card already in use for that cow.

FIG. 5 shows that each card 41 is inserted into a slot 4 2 in a card reader 43. The card reader 43 is constituted primarily by a lamp 44 at one side of the slot 42 and a series of four photo-cells (not shown in FIG. 1) arranged to respond to light passing through the holes in the card so that the photo-cells generate signals corresponding to the holes in the card. A fifth photo cell senses the arrival of the leading edge of the card at a predetermined position in which the holes are in alignment with the photo cells and causes the card to be read at that time. The card handling equipment is such that a card cannot be read until it has been released and dropped into the appropriate slot and after it has been read it drops into an inaccessible locked compartment 45. This acts as a security measure against any particular cow being fed with more than the appropriate quantity of feed.

As shown in FIG. 7, the four bit word indicative of the feed requirement of a particular cow is fed from the four photo-cells P1, P2, P4 and P8 to a multi-word storage memory M. FIG. 7 is concerned with a case where there are four feed locations and for this reason the memory M requires a storage capacity of four four bit words. The order in which these words are stored in the memory M is significant and thus the cards should be fed into the card reader so that the cow in feed location I has its card read first and so on. A card counter CC operated from the timing photo cell PT controls the addresses of the four words stored in the memory M.

Once all the cards have been read a start button S is operated and one function of this start button is to transfer the four four bit words from memory M into a store C. The transfer takes place in the form of a single 16 bit word. The store C is in four individual four bit sections each corresponding to one feed location and the four bit word stored in each section corresponds to the information punched on the card of the cow in the feed location concerned.

Operation of the start button S also causes a pulse generator E opeating at a frequency of about one pulse per second to supply a series of pulses both to a pulse counter D and to a series of four feeders F1, F2, F3 and F4 arranged one in each feed location. Each pulse from the pulse generator results in one unit of feed being supplied from the feeder into the feed location concerned.

The pulse counter PC is a four bit binary counter which on successive pulses counts one step forward from one to 15.

A series of four comparators C1, C2, C3 and C4 are each arranged to compare the words stored in one section of the store C with the output from the pulse counter PC. When parity of the two inputs is achieved in any comparator, That comparator then produces an output signal which stops the operation of the corresponding feeder.

To follow through a particular example, suppose that cow number 26 enters feed location 2 and that cow 26 has a feed requirement of six feed units. When the cowman feeds four cards into the card reader then a card for cow 26 with an indication for six feed units will be fed in as the second of four cards. This will result in the number six in binary form being stored in the section 2 of the store C. When the pulse counter starts there will at first be no parity at comparator output 2 because the input from the store will be six whereas the input from the pulse counter will be one, two, three, etc.

However, once the pulse counter reaches six, parity will be achieved in the comparator and a signal from comparator output 2 will be fed to feeder 2 to stop any further feed supply from feeder 2. However, the first six pulses from the pulse generator will have been supplied to feeder 2 resulting in the supply of six feed units into the feed location 2 to cow 26.

The apparatus shown in FIG. 7 is also provided with suitable re-set facilities (not shown) to enable it to be cleared ready to attend to four more cows.

Although this embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7 has been described with reference to a four bit word for indicating feed quantity and to four feed locations, it would be possible to utilize a different number of feed locations at a different number of bits for the feed informaton.

In normal operation an installation with a small number of feed locations will be used in conjunction with a much larger number of cows and the cows will be allowed into the installation in batches corresponding to the number of feed locations.

Further details of the installation of FIGS. 5 to 7 may correspond with corresponding details of the installation of FIGS. 1 to 4.

In a Carousel installation a series of cows enter one at a time into successive compartments arranged around the periphery of a turntable. The turntable is rotated slowly and the various operations including preparations for milking and the actual milking operation are carried out as the turntable rotates. Normally a cow leaves the turntable after almost one complete rotation. The speed of rotation is such that all the operations which are to be carried out on the cow are completed by the time the cow has moved through one complete revolution and arrives at the exit.

In a Carousel installation there is a need for only one feed unit to dispense measured quantities of feed into successive mangers one in each of the compartments of the turntable.

With the installation shown in 'FIG. 8, the timing of the operation of the feed unit is controlled by the time at which the card such as shown in FIG. 6 is fed into a reader such as shown in FIG. 5. As in the case of FIG. 7 the card reader has four photo cells P1, P2, P4 and P8 for sensing the binary information stored on a card and a fifth timing photo cell PT for sensing the position of the card and timing the reading of information from the photo cells P1, P2, P4 and P8. The outputs from the four photocells P1, P2, P4 and P8 are fed to a memory M comprising four single-bit'bistable memory elements which are such that they are set by the information from the four photo cells on receipt of a signal from the timing photo cell PT to indicate thata card is in the correct position. Thus appropriate digital information corresponding to the number of units of feed to be supplied to a cow is stored in the memory M. The signal from the photo cell PT is fed to a pulse generator PG through a delay element D which has a delay period of a few milliseconds, so that the pulse generator is started a few milliseconds after the card arrives in its correct position. The purpose of the delay is simply to ensure that the appropriate feed information has been stored in the memory M before the pulse generator operates. The pulse generator supplies a series of pulses at approximately 1 second intervals both to a feeder unit F and to a pulse counter PC. The counter PC is a binary counter which counts up to 15.

The output from the pulse counter PC and the output from the memory M are supplied to separate inputs of a comparator C. Counting is continued until parity occurs between the counter output and the feed information in the memory. When this parity is achieved an output from the comparator causes the pulse generator to stop, thereby preventing any further pulses from being supplied to the feed unit. The output from the comparator also re-sets the counter and the memory to enable the apparatus to receive a further card and process the information from this further card. Preferably the card reader is provided with a visual indicator which indicates when the processing of the previous card has been completed. In this way the operator can ensure that a card is not fed into the card reader while the previous feeding operation in response to the previous card is still being carried out and the memory is locked. if a new card is fed into the card reader too early it will not be read and consequently will not result in any feeding operation.

I claim: I. A feed control installation for a herd of animals including,

a. a means defining a feed location,

b. a series of feed indicator cards each bearing a visually recognizable identity symbol associating it with a specific animal and each carrying coded feed information representative of a desired quantity of feed for that animal,

0. a feed indicator card reader adapted to read said feed information,

(1. a feed supply unit, and

e. an operative connection between the card reader and the feed supply unit to cause the feed supply unit to supply to said feed location the feed quantity indicated by the coded feed information carried by a card presented to the reader, said operative connection comprising a control system incorporatinga comparator to one input of which the feed quantity read from a feed indicator element is supplied, a pulse generator, a pulse counter supplied by pulses from said pulse generator, a connection from the pulse counter to a'second input of the comparator and an output from the comparator adapted to stop the supply of pulses to the feed unit in response to equality between the information from the counter and the feed information. 2. A feed control installation for a herd of animals including,

a. a plurality of feed supply units, each at a respective feed location,

b. a series of feed indicator cards each bearing a visually recognizable identity symbol associating it with a specific animal and each carrying coded feed information representative of a desired quantity of feed for that animal,

c. a single feed indicator card reader adapted to read said feed information,

d. a comparator associated with each feed supply unit, and

e. an information store associated with each feed unit for storing the feed information for each animal at the corresponding feed location,

f. a control system operatively connecting the feed supply units to said single reader, said control sys tem including a pulse generator adapted to supply pulses to the feed supply units and to a pulse counter, operative connections from the pulse counter to second inputs of each comparator and an output from each comparator responsive to equality between the output of the counter and the feed information in the corresponding store arranged to stop the corresponding feeder thereby to cause each feed supply unit to supply to the respective feed location the feed quantity indicated by coded feed information carried by a respective card presented to the reader. 

1. A feed control installation for a herd of animals including, a. a means defining a feed location, b. a series of feed indicator cards each bearing a visually recognizable identity symbol associating it with a specific animal and each carrying coded feed information representative of a desired quantity of feed for that animal, c. a feed indicator card reader adapted to read said feed information, d. a feed supply unit, and e. an operative connection between the card reader and the feed supply unit to cause the feed supply unit to supply to said feed location the feed quantity indicated by the coded feed information carried by a card presented to the reader, said operative connection comprising a control system incorporating a comparator to one input of which the feed quantity read from a feed indicator element is supplied, a pulse generator, a pulse counter supplied by pulses from said pulse generator, a connection from the pulse counter to a second input of the comparator and an output from the comparator adapted to stop the supply of pulses to the feed unit in response to equality between the information from the counter and the feed information.
 2. A feed control installation for a herd of animals including, a. a plurality of feed supply units, each at a respective feed location, b. a series of feed indicator cards each bearing a visually recognizable identity symbol associating it with a specific animal and each carrying coded feed information representative of a desired quantity of feed for that animal, c. a single feed indicator card reader adapTed to read said feed information, d. a comparator associated with each feed supply unit, and e. an information store associated with each feed unit for storing the feed information for each animal at the corresponding feed location, f. a control system operatively connecting the feed supply units to said single reader, said control system including a pulse generator adapted to supply pulses to the feed supply units and to a pulse counter, operative connections from the pulse counter to second inputs of each comparator and an output from each comparator responsive to equality between the output of the counter and the feed information in the corresponding store arranged to stop the corresponding feeder thereby to cause each feed supply unit to supply to the respective feed location the feed quantity indicated by coded feed information carried by a respective card presented to the reader. 